You've reached the Creative Space of Antiguan and Barbudan writer Joanne C. Hillhouse. Welcome. For info on my writing, services, and more, scroll down. If you need to contact me directly, email jhohadli (at) gmail.com. Sharing with links and credits is fine but unauthorized use and/or duplication of site content without permission is strictly prohibited. For my other blog, go to wadadlipen.wordpress.com

“I am really confident about writing now. I have been doing so well since I started it has grabbed the attention of my employers and colleagues… This workshop was really intriguing. I learnt a lot of things (of which) I had no knowledge. Joanne is also a fantastic teacher. ”

Thanks. Remember, also to check out the latest installment of CREATIVE SPACE, an opportunity, if you’re a business operating in Antigua and Barbuda to boost your brand while boosting local arts and culture. Finally, my books may be just the thing for the book lover on your list – they include children’s picture books, teen/young adult fiction, and adult literature.

As I write this, I’ve wrapped the last of three (technically four) editing projects this week and prepping the next installment of the JWP Creative Writing Workshop series. Which is to say, two things:

1, There is still time to register for the JWP CWWS – themed Back to Basics and starting this Saturday, it will look at basic language and literary terms, and story structure and technique. The goal is, as always, to get you writing and to help you grow in the practice and use of craft to improve your writing. Remember that you can participate remotely from anywhere and, if in Antigua, remotely or in person. To register or for information, contact me at jhohadli at gmail dot com

For more on Jhohadli Writing Project, go here.
For more on Jhohadli Writing Project Creative Writing Workshop Series, go here.

2, I am available for work and the work I do includes writing (for all types of projects and clientele), editing, training (coaching and through workshops) – the latter from creative writing to written communication. This past week I, also, received word that a piece I had been invited to submit for a publication out of Norway has been accepted as is. This publication found me through my platform (so, thanks, platform for working for me). Meanwhile, I continue to work. Hit me up at jhohadli at gmail dot com

If you’re here for the first time, my name is Joanne C. Hillhouse. I’ve authored some books – I hope you’ll check them out (and if you already have, I encourage you to post a reader review to Amazon or Goodreads, or even here); and I offer freelance services – look me up if you need any of the listed services. Thanks!

Riding the momentum of the fourth Jhohadli Writing Project Creative Writing Workshop Series since the start of 2018, we will be moving in to Series 5 later this month. Yes, we will be overlapping with Carnival when life as we know it typically pauses in Antigua and Barbuda BUT a pause is not a full stop. That said, if you’re a Carnival lover like me, you know I won’t be doing anything to interrupt the Carnival. I’ve checked the schedule and we can do this. We will do this. Onward.

Read more JWP and other workshops here.
Read about other services here.
Read Performance reviews here.

Read CREATIVE SPACE – an opportunity for Antiguan and Barbudan businesses and businesses operating in Antigua and Barbuda to boost their brand while boosting local art and culture.

Got some story writing done today (finished one story, did some plotting on another) and made little little progress on other reads, namely Elaine Spires’ Singles Holiday and Tananarive Due’s Black Rose (been reading the former way too long but finish line in sight, and the latter I’m into it’s just time, man). Final update of the update, the post after this is a bookish one – a share re one of my childhood favourites Charlotte’s Web (check it out).

(end ETA)

It’s been a weird week, the week of catchup and trying to catch the rhythm of life, in as much as the freelancing life has any steady rhythm, after even a short trip usually is. Balls were dropped. But also writing was done (I do give thanks to the workshop I recently blogged for stimulating new writing and new focus); and overall the dance between being productive and being had its moments (even if I was somewhat very scattered).

Here’s a moment. A new review, this one from the Caffeinated Reviewer’s Nonna’s Corner which called my picture book Lost! A Caribbean Sea Adventure (audio book version) “a charming, honest narrative about friendship and adventure.” Thanks, Kimberly! Read the full review at the Caffeinated Reviewer and this and other reviews of this particular book here on Jhohadli.

Here’s another moment. An interview I did with the Caribbean Literary Heritage website has gone live. Among other things I was asked about books. Here’s a sample: in response to the question about what writers I wish I knew more of (which I interpreted as which Caribbean writers I wish I knew more of), I answered: “No single writer in particular; just continuing to ‘discover’ the canon – classic and contemporary – in general. I’ve recently read or re-read, I’m not sure which, and reviewed Wide Sargasso Sea* and given that I’ve liked the other two Jean Rhys books I’ve read, and find her life interesting and mysterious, and her writing in some ways very modern and feminist for its time, I’m game to read more. I think Caryl Philips has a new biography of her, A View of the Empire at Sunset. I’d be interested in reading that.” Read the full interview.

New book-ish announcements (Talk of the Town being a book blogging meme and me doing next to no new reading this week – only a little peek in to one of my reads in progress, Faye Kellerman’s Straight into Darkness) on my other blog included announcements re Marlon James’ new book Black Leopard Red Wolf (which, okay, take my money!), awards for Edwidge Dandicat and Earl Lovelace (two writers I love; read everything!), and Zomo: the Rabbit (it’s not a review but the children’s book features in one of my week’s experiences and this blog)… oh and a reading buddy teased the new (or new to me) Lestat/Anne Rice (so add that one to the TBR).

I have had to make peace as far as TBRs go with the fact that the journey not the destination is the thing – I will never finish every book (as a conversation just last night, reminding of all the Chimamanda Ngozie Adichies I haven’t yet read, reminded me) but I will savour every book I finish. Hope readers have the same relationship with my books.

It’s weird, whenever I start one of these book meme posts, I’m sure I have nothing new to report (I just don’t read as fast as the rest of the community seems to – I mean my deepest read this week was a participant submission to the Jhohadli Writing Workshop Creative Writing Workshop Series, which I facilitate) but there you have it, looks like I had a word after all. Now hopefully more words will spill unto the page (not here, off line) as I keep writing.

This is a bit of a cheat since this Favourite Thing intersects with things bookish. I’m just back from a writers’ workshop. A full week at Ocean Spray Apartments in Barbados where each night I fell asleep to the sound of the waves bashing against the rocks of Bim’s south coast and each day I sat half the day, with the rest of the day for my own pursuits in between one-on-ones with our tutors, with other writers under a gazebo alongside those ocean waves immersed in writing related learning. As I said in the review at the end, a Commonwealth sponsored, writer/editor Jacob Ross and sci-fi writer Karen Lord facilitated opportunity to re-learn things I know, learn new things, and be a part of a community of writers from across the Caribbean (St. Lucia, Grenada, Bahamas, Bermuda, Jamaica, my own Antigua-Barbuda, and, of course, Barbados) – learning together, drawing strength from each others’ experience, reading (yes, we had a joint public reading at which I made the last minute decision to read from my children’s picture book With Grace, the three copies I took with me now on shelves in Barbados and the Bahamas), laughing and eating (the food at Ocean Spray was so good and fresh, a rare blend of healthy and tasty) and beachcombing (though like Antigua, Barbados is currently having sargassum troubles) and shopping/window shopping and dancing (soca music for we soul) and eating (there was also a pizza night at author Ingrid Persaud’s beautiful home that was muah) and hiking (my legs are still mad at me for this one but they did enjoy traipsing up and down Coco Hill Forest – lush and rich with diverse plant life, just beautiful; again a side of Barbados I’ve never really seen and it is one of the Caribbean islands I’ve visited quite a bit, comparatively speaking). As I always say with my own small islands, there is always more to discover; it will take a lifetime and then some.

I return home feeling energized and motivated re my writing (having received specific feedback on works in progress, re-affirmation re my writing, and reminders that though it may often feel that way, re our experiences as writers/artists/creatives in the Caribbean region, we are not alone) – though already real life is starting to insist on my time (doesn’t it seem sometimes like life is trying to punish us for taking some us time?). I did take the day, on returning, to go to the beach with a friend – and there is no better way to recover from a sleepless night and an early morning flight. I will try to hold on as much as possible to the energy of the week that has been so far one of my favourite adventures of 2018.

This being a book blogging community, I will end by sharing that I finally finished Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers – what an interesting read. Check out my review.

Let’s try to stay positive, and pain free, motivated and energized. You and me both.

So this is a quick-ish round-up of recent posts of mine that you might have missed. You’re welcome (lol).

Ten times I thought a female emcee was fire! (this is in Joanne’s Picks which is just for fun and changes with the mood so catch it quick and get your rap on)I added a single page author kit in pdf format to my BiO page (because it’s another of a million ideas I’ve come across for authors to boost their brand and … it’s not like I was writing, right?)CREATIVE SPACE update (I’m still excited about this series and hopeful that businesses in Antigua and Barbuda will embrace it as an opportunity to boost their brand while boosting local art and culture)CREATIVE SPACE #4 of 2018 (…in which I make a credible case that tennis qualifies for this series)The Writing Life (it sees, it saws; and every now and again someone lifts you up)Appearances (this page hasn’t been updated in a while so take a look to see what I have coming up, and see you there)Re Beach Access in Antigua and Barbuda (how many years in to this blogging thing I’m still trying to find the right balance tone and content wise. I’m clearly in my zone talking about my own journey writing, discussing books and TV shows/movies, sharing music I like and other things that grab my interest…and that latter category is the bug because I could literally rant about a million things a day…I don’t but I could. Yet this is my second rant about beach access on my islands)More Jhohadli Writing Project Creative Writing Workshop Series (An invitation to register interest in future sessions by sharing what the experience was like for the last round of participants in their own words; to be clear this is a paid workshop series on the craft of fiction writing open to anyone whether based in Antigua-Barbuda or not)Reviews – Dancing Nude in the Moonlight (this book, relative to my other books, has never had the kind of sales it merited based on the reader and critical feedback; so every chance I get to remind you to check it out, pass it on, even if due to only a minor update to the reviews page, I’m going to take it)Blogger on Books Vl (2018) (I had a reading burst right after finishing A Brief History of Seven Killings, the latest addition to this pagereview here, almost like I’d been backed up…this book and I have been trapped in it for a while #notaquickread In fact, I shared my linked review with a friend with whom I’d been discussing the book and she confessed that she’d tapped out a while ago, and I sense some side-eyeing on her part in my #bothsides approach to the review…but this is what I really thought). ETA: Oh the reading burst has seen me make progress on The Black Rose by Tananarive Due (loving it), Straight into Darkness by Faye Kellerman (getting into it), Without a Summer by Mary Robinette Kowal (slow start compared to others in the series but okay so far), Rogue and Gambit (one of my favourite comic couplings) – ETA: read the review, and Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell (which is still blowing my mind); and two new books came in the mail Wartime at Woolworth’s by Elaine Everest and the Nakedness of New by Althea Romeo-Mark. Yay!

You still there?

Any interest in updates to the other blog?

Real quick, and not just because I’m loving the new banner, which features Antiguan and Barbudan book covers randomly selected and rotated every quarter, and want to show it off.

ETA: Link-ups (because all of these won’t be of interest to everyone but I haven’t done a link up in a while and, *shrug*, all it takes is one thing and one person to make a connection): Sunday Salon, the Caffeinated Reviewer’s Sunday Post, Tynga’s Staking the Shelves, Mailbox Monday, It’s Monday What Are You Reading?, and probably some other ones (so many memes, so little time, like this one I found recently but haven’t participated in yet)…which reminds me, is there a link up for Caribbean book bloggers (books being blogged by Caribbean people but not necessarily limited to Caribbean books…you know, like me)? Maybe I should look in to how to do one some time if there isn’t…hmmmm (pauses to consider if she’s ready for that kind of commitment when she doesn’t even blog on a regular schedule). We’ll see. Anyway, on TV I’ve been watching The Chi (uneven but engaging) and on film, though I haven’t felt driven to watch anything since Black Panther, recently re-watched Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet (his fun and mildly angsty take on forbidden love pre-Brokeback), and watched both Avengers Infinity War and Deadpool 2 (the latter did what it did before but with a bigger budget – so it was funny but also felt a bit been-there; and the former had a lot more heart than I anticipated…so, team…Avengers?) hope you read + enjoy one or more of the links.

In the pages section there are two new reads in the CREATIVE SPACE series.

“The National Tennis Centre was abuzz with activity on Labour Day weekend 2018 – the squeak-squeak of sneakers, the chatter of onlookers, the smell of barbeque (there must always be food right?), the exclamation of a player who has managed to one up another, the thwack of ball hitting court in the back and forth of a match engaged. Amidst the rituals of the game, the fist pumps and the tears, because there must be winners and losers and where passions run high there may be tears, I couldn’t help but reflect for a moment on the impressive transformation of the courts located at the area known as Campsite. It was my first time attending an event there since the 2016 opening. What a transformation!” – from CREATIVE SPACE #4 of 2018 (uploaded May 12th 2018) – It’s Game, Set, and…Win for Tennis Antigua-Barbuda

“The vibe at open mics varies – the venue and the host have something to do with this. Heads up, Barbara, the host of the Tannins open mic, dubbed Rhythm and Rhyme is big on audience participation. So amidst the planned readings by special guest London Rocks author Brenda Lee Browne and another scheduled performance – more on that in a minute – Barbara was prompting people hanging out to participate. A couple of jokes from one, impromptu speaking by another, a group chain writing exercise – by which I mean random strangers stringing a story together just because. The story went something like this. Carnival, a churchy but rebellious teen, the revelry and excitement, an angry dad, and just when things were about to come to a head – or, literally, blows – Carnival worked its magic…and the gathered laughed their belly full. That is to say there was a fairly loose, near weekend, after work vibe about the whole affair.” – from CREATIVE SPACE #5 of 2018 (uploaded May 12th 2018) Opening the Mic

As a reminder to local businesses, the CREATIVE SPACE series which is also syndicated on Antigua Nice – one of Antigua and Barbuda’s earliest and biggest online platforms – for wider reach, features sponsored posts; an opportunity to boost your brand while boosting local arts and culture.

Blogger on Books Vl has a new book review. Yes, I’ve finished Marlon James’ A Brief History of Seven Killings (whew!). Here’s an excerpt:

“The immersive nature of the novel – plus the fact that it jumps around in time, between its multitude upon multitude of characters, vivid action to quiet contemplation, shocking violence to quiet beauty, straight up reportage to dreamlike effect… forever keeping the reader off guard – can have a disorienting effect. When it was intense it was powerfully so, but, if I’m being honest, there are times when I felt like I was slogging through seaweed. But it is overall an impressive literary feat and I completely understand how it copped the Man Booker prize and many other major literary prizes.” And go here to read the whole thing.

Finally, a reminder about the Barbara Arrindell & Associates new workshops starting next week. I’ll be doing the written communication sessions. Still time to register.